The ordeal unfolded in the Sterlingshire Apartments in the 9000 block of Sterlingshire Street, according to Houston Police Department SWAT Capt. Larry Baimbridge.

Patrol officers rushed to the complex and tried to apprehend Torres, but he ran onto the roof of one of the units before officers could catch him.

Both women were unharmed and are safe, Baimbridge said.

After trying to talk him down, the officers called for help from HPD's SWAT team, which brought out several heavy and armored trucks to try and bring Torres down safely.

Negotiators from HPD's hostage team yelled at Torres with a bullhorn, pleading with him to come down on their terms.

An armored truck fitted with a ramp was pushed up against the roof of the two-story building allowing Torres to walk down safely – but he refused to do so for hours.

Torres yelled obscenities at the officers and mocked their efforts to help him down from the roof and into custody.

HPD brought a Houston Fire Department's ladder truck to give him a second way down, but he still refused.

After nearly three hours of negotiating, three SWAT officers rushed up the ramp and Tased Torres, who immediately went down and into custody. He will likely face two second-degree felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charges, Baimbridge said.

As Torres was hauled away to jail, residents in the complex were allowed back in their homes. One of those neighbors, Lillian Mayes, prayed for a safe ending to the ordeal – a prayer that did not go unanswered.

She was glad police did not use lethal force to take Torres down.

"It was wonderful he didn't get killed," Mayes said moments after personally thanking Baimbridge for his unit's efforts. "They saved him to see another day. HPD officers did that."

She said the complex has never seen anything like this happen, at least in her decades of living there.